The other day at yoga class, while we were supposed to be lying still, emptying our minds of distracting thoughts and letting go of all our worries, I was thinking: “Wow, I really suck at yoga.” Then I started composing a blog post in my head about how I suck at yoga. Which kind of proves my point.
If you think I find this discouraging, you might want to consider the fact that in my primary sport – running – I’ve finished 2,513th out of 3,356 runners and still felt like a hero. In fact, I regularly sign up for “races” I have absolutely no hope of winning and yet I don’t give it a second thought. So am I going to be bothered because I can’t execute a perfect downward dog? Pu-lease.
In fact, I blame running for the fact that I’m so bad at yoga. For one thing, when I run, I basically only exercise these muscles:
Yoga, on the other hand, introduces me to muscles in my body I didn’t even know existed, like the ones used in this pose:
Still, as my sister (who is an amazing yoga teacher) has been telling me for years, yoga is a great complement to running. It increases flexibility and strengthens the core. It teaches breath control. It increases awareness of the body and emphasizes the importance of engaging muscles purposefully. So it’s worth learning, even if I’m the slowest student in my yoga class. But I know this from running: the back of the pack is where all the fun is.
Incidentally, I’m looking for a “yoga for runners” DVD. Do you know a good one? I’d appreciate any recommendations.
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